ODESSA, Texas —
Today the Odessa community came out to the American Legion to come together with their friends and family for an early Thanksgiving dinner.
“This is a Thanksgiving dinner I do every year the Sunday before Thanksgiving for those people that can't travel and for those people that might want to have a Thanksgiving dinner that won't be possible for them to have one because their jobs. Some of these people won't have time to cook a Thanksgiving dinner. So hey, this is the place to be right now,” said Jesse Porras, organizer of the Thanksgiving dinner.
Porras says that the turnout has tripled since last year and while he is happy about that he says it’s important to remember why that is.
“Family and friends are getting more closer together because of the issues we have had with COVID. You know we have lost some people, some families, some friends, myself I have lost several people, several relatives. I've lost my sister. So in return, I am glad that I could share last year’s Thanksgiving dinner with her. So that's a very a very good memory that I'm going to keep about her. So, this is one of the reasons I tell people come and enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner, something you can share a memory, because I can tell you personally, it's hard when you don't have them here. But if you share this Thanksgiving dinner like I did with my family and friends that passed away, I can always remember I had a good time that day,” Porras continued.
He’s seen how far the Thanksgiving dinner has come after 11 years and says that he’s more than happy to keep it going for as long as he can.
“I remember when I first started, I had my family, my sons, all put, you know, effort into what I do, look where we turned out. Now it's gotten bigger. So, I'm proud of what we're doing here. I'm proud that people are understanding what this is all about,” Porras added.